Microsoft explains the one big reason car manufacturers are lining up to use its tech

You will soon be able to control your Volvo with Microsoft Band.
Volvo
Judging from CES 2016 so far, everybody's getting in on connected-car tech, from nerdy processor companies like Nvidia and Qualcomm, down to dark-horse startups like Faraday Future, all the way up to titans like Microsoft.

But to hear Sanjay Ravi, Microsoft's car tech boss, tell it, there's one really big reason that auto manufacturers are picking the Redmond giant to power their efforts here.

"We are not competing with any of the automotive brands," Ravi says. "That's a different business."

The concern that a lot of automakers have, Ravi says, is that they'll use Google or Apple technology in their cars — and then those tech companies will turn around and use the data and insight they glean in their own, competitive offerings.

To Microsoft, the new game plan is to provide apps, tools, and services to anybody, wherever they want to use them. So far, that has meant stuff like Microsoft Office apps on iPhone and a more robust set of Microsoft Azure cloud services for app developers.

All of this means that to Microsoft, the connected car is just another device. As cars get smarter, they will need more software, both to develop the intelligence needed to eventually drive themselves and to help their passengers be more productive (or just watch Netflix).

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Screenshot/Microsoft
"Cars of the future are going to look like your office on wheels, or like your living room on wheels," Ravi says.

And so Microsoft has made its full range of services available to car manufacturers, from apps to cloud services.

For instance, Volvo announced that you'll soon be able to talk to select cars in its line using the Microsoft Cortana virtual assistant, by way of the Microsoft Band 2 fitness tracker. And Nissan is using the Microsoft Azure cloud to collect telematic data from connected cars, which it can use to improve its onboard software.

A lot of this will take time to come to full fruition, Ravi acknowledges.

So much of the connected-car market is still up in the air, with Tesla, Apple, Google, and many more offering different takes on how all of this should look and work — let alone how cars should drive themselves.

But Microsoft is well positioned to keep providing the stuff car manufacturers need to succeed, without having to rely on a potentially capricious software partner.